Troubled Children
by Selene Saint-Clair
Summary: I've always loved Tim Burtons work, especially Edward's story. I'm grateful that now, through fanfiction, i can make my own story from it. :) Also, a story of a girl searching for the truth.
1. Ardeth

She could see him, his hair placed wildly across his face in the moonlight as he walked gracefully through the grounds of his rickety mansion. The bushy sculpters stood high above him, reaching the starry sky, it seemed, with their majesty. Yet he didn't stare at them in stunned wonder as anyone else would, he strode sleepily past them to reach the gates at the end of his artful garden. He looked through the black bars of the rusty gates, past the charred branches of the dark trees, to the dreamy town below, where the people slept, ridiculing him even in their slumber. Suddenly, he looked at the ground and whispered softly"Ardeth."

"ARDETH" Slowly, her dream faded into reality again. She was in class. When she yawned and looked up drowsily, her first sight was the professor standing over her with a mocking smile on his face. Behind her was the teachers pet, Amanda, with much the same expression.

"Did you have a nice nap, Ardeth" he chortled.

"Yes, i _was_ having a nice nap" she said, smiling"until you woke me up."

The class gasped. Remarks like 'how rude' and 'why i never' were heard amongst the chatter that came after.

"ARDETH! Get to the principle's office" the teacher steamed"NOW"

Ardeth Rainy was always considered to be an outcast, a rogue in her timeless little neighborhood. She'd lived in that wretchedly-perfect town all her life, with it's perfect little houses, perfect families, perfect robot people, and perfectly-retro furniture. It sickened her. Her's was the only house with internet or any hint of modern pop-culture. She was the only teen-ager that didn't carry her school books in a leather strap under her arm. She was the only teen-ager that had a personality, and any knowledge of the world outside their 1950's-styled utopia. She was the only teen-ager that was intrigued by the fairytale about the knife-handed villian that lives in the big, empty house on the hill. She found out about this sad tale from none other than the internet itself, while researching for a paper in Language class.

Ardeth slammed the door open proudly. The secretary looked up from her papers through her half-moon glasses and smiled at her guest, then went back to her work.

"So, what are you in for this week" she asked probingly.

"I fell asleep in the middle of a lecture on..." Ardeth paused"I can't remember."

A deep voice hailed over the intercom on the secretary's desk"Send her in."

"You heard 'im" she pointed her thumb towards the door behind her.

Ardeth strode quietly, her long black hair trailing behind her. Her confident hand turned the doorknob slowly and opened the heavy wooden door to the exquisite office. Inside, behind the dark oak desk, sat the stern principle. Ardeth sat in the kooshy chair in front of the desk, facing him.

"Ardeth" he said, with his fingers to his temples, obviously annoyed"you know the school rules. Yet you continually break them. This is the what... twenty-fourth time you've come here this term"

"Actually, it's the twety-fifth" she said, correcting him.

"Exactly. Now you know that you get into pickles such as this much more than any of your peers" he sighed, dissapointed"and you know that by this time, i'm going to have to suspend you."

"SUSPEND ME" Ardeth was finally susprised"for sleeping? Surely, you, of all people"

"ARDETH! You know that it's not just for sleeping" he debated"it's for all the times you've argued with your peers and teachers over the truth of the story of Edward that is banned from this school. It's for all the times you've put up petitions against the town council's decisions on burning down the old mansion, and for all the times you've never handed in homework."

"And for that I have to call your parents and inform them of your suspension."

The principle dailed her home phone number into his office phone. She sat there, painfully listening to him talk to he mother on the other line. Ardeth only caught the blunt of the conversation. That's all she needed to hear to know that she was waist deep in... poopy.

-end chapter-


	2. Desisions

The school bus rumbled down the street. Inside, Ardeth sat, awaiting her stop, and her impending doom. For she knew, when she got home, one of two things could happen: Her parents would either not talk to her at all, or it would be an all-out battle to the death. Or, maybe, it could be a little bit of both. Either way, this was the first time she had been suspended... EVER. Suddenly, the bus schreeched to a stop.

"RAINY" the bus driver hollered"YOUR STOP"

Ardeth stood up out of her seat and walked down the aisle. She got to the front of the bus and looked at her house. She dread what would happen when she went in the front door. She took a deep breath, let it out, and descended down the stairs, and out the door of the schoolbus. When she got in her parent's driveway, the bus door slide shut, and the vehicle scuttled away.

She walked slowly up the driveway, and with every ounce of courage in her body, she reached the door. Ardeth could hear her dad talking for inside. She put her ear to the cold door.

"...and she got suspended for sleeping" she could hear her mother"That's not a very valid reason to base a suspension on."

"No, dear, apparently, she hasn't been passing in her homework, and she's been arguing with her peers and her teachers in class."

"About what" her mother asked.

"Over that perposterous story that the school banned."

Ardeth felt an abrupt wave of anger surge through her, and she burst through the door. Her parents stared at her, surprised. 

"That story isn't perposterous! You should know dad! You were one of the ones that hated him! You were one of the people that made Edward go back up on that hill" Ardeth raged.

"ARDETH RAINY" her mother was shocked, she looked at her husband. He was red in the face, and his eye twitched madly.

"EVERYBODY HATED EDWARD! The only one in this town that actually accepted him was that freak, Peg" he yelled"And he was ruining our town! Normal people were prancing around thinking he was so great for making thier hair into disasters. To be honest, I'M GLAD HE'S GONE! And I know anyone in this town would agree with me."

Ardeth snapped. Her anger was replaced with hatred. Her parents had finally shown her who they really are: terribe, hateful people. Suddenly, she spun around and stomped to her room. She slammed her bedroom door behind her. She slammed it so hard, in fact, that she could hear pictures falling of the hallway walls.

Ardeth threw herself on her bed. She thought: 'Why would people hate him for giving haircuts and grooming thier dogs? He was only trying to help, to express himself.' Suddenly, she got and idea. ARdeth got one of those prickly ideas that you knew could go wrong, one of those ideas that would have dire consequences if acted out. But that didn't matter to her. It was a good idea. The idea was this: she would go and ask himherself. She would go up and ask Edward herself why people in her neighborhood hated him, why he was up there in the first place, and probably why he came down to this horribly robotic town. And she would be able to prove to all her classmates that he was real. She would do it tonite.

-end chapter-


	3. Journey

Ardeth sat up on her bed. She could her her parents getting ready to go to sleep in the other room. She stood up and walked to her closet. She opened it and started rummaging through the piles of clothes on the bottom of it. It didn't take long before she found her old schoolbag and her black spring jacket. Then she strode to her dresser with her bookbag, opened one of the drawers, and pulled out a book, a notebook, a sketchbook, her walkman, a few CD's, and a pen and pencil. She stuffed them in her napsack, and zipped it up. She hauled on her jacket, then quickly went to her desk and scrawled a note on a small piece of paper reading: "I'll be gone for a while, don't come looking for me, i'll return on my own. Love, Ardeth."

Ardeth looked to the crack at the bottom of her bedroom door to see if the hallway light was still on. It wasn't. She then listened to see if her parents had stopped moving in their bedroom. They had. So she walked to her door and quietly turned the knob and pulled it open, careful not to make a sound. She went into her hallway and tiptoed down into her kitchen. She silently approached the fridge and removed a magnet temporairally to place her note under it. When she did, Ardeth soundlessly made her way to the front door. She unlocked it, turned the handle, opened it slowly, and stepped into the night.

The cold midnight breeze swept through her hair. Ardeth sighed. She was determined to make it to that creepy 'haunted mansion' on the hill. She had to know the answers to her questions. She had to know the truth. Ardeth knew her neighborhood well enough to know that it was riddled with dangers. Little yap-yap dogs that never slept, children up late watching their TV programs, and restless wives busy with knitting in their rocking chairs by the window.

So she began to make her way across her lawn, keeping close to her house, but not so close that her parents might hear her. Ardeth reached her neighbor's home. She crossed their lawn with ease, for she knew that the Robinson's went to sleep early, because they had no children, and they both had to work at their firm in the morning.

'Only three houses to go,' Ardeth thought as she made it to the edge of the Robinson's property.

Suddenly, she heard a noise. Something rustled in the shrub next to her. Quietly, she lifted up a branch to find a stray cat. The mangy animal looked up at her, then quickly ran away, down the culdesac.

Ardeth started walking again. She tiptoed past the Picketson's house, avoiding their livingroom window and front door. At the edge of their house, she reached a fence. It was not as tall as Ardeth, but it would be hard to jump, and she would make alot of disturbance if she did jump it. So she put her back to it, and decides to try the James Bond manuever. When she reached the edge of the fence next to the street, she knew she would be in plain sight of anyone with waking eyes. As stealthily and as quickly as she could, she switched to the other side of the fence. Ardeth scoped the yard. It seemed safe and quiet. So she left her position by the fence and walked to the end of the lawn.

Her foot hit something, she stumbled, and she fell. Ardeth hit the ground hard. "Shit" she said loudly.

YAP YAP YAP!

A small dog emerged from the bushes, running at her, yapping. A light turned on in the porch of the house next to her.

"Hello" said a voice"Who's out there"

Ardeth stood up and flattened herself against the side of the house. She stayed there until the dog became uninterested and stopped barking, and the owner of the house dismissed the situation and went back inside. She took a deep breath, and slowly inched her way to the edge of the property, careful not to arouse the dog again.

Finally she reached the end of the houses. Ardeth was relieved that it was safe sailing from there.

She strode to the rusted gate at the base of the hill, and looked up. The new moon shone down, reflecting of the metal of the gate. Abruptly, a tiny splash of water hit the tip of her nose, and slide down her face. She held out her hand as another hit her palm and slid down her arm. More and more drops hit the ground. Ardeth stood there as the rain began to dampen her hair and her clothes. So she started to run up the slope, slipping through the quickly forming mud and puddles.

She reached another gate, encased in an arch. Ardeth scrambled under it, seeking protection from the down-pour of water. She looked around her. Back the way she came, lining the path, was a sparse forest of old and blackened trees. On her other side, ahead of the arch, was a beautiful garden filled with tall shrubbery in the shapes of animals and people.

She opened the steel barrier with difficulty, and slid through it. Ardeth couldn't help ignoring the rain as she was quickly enveloped in thefantasy of these tall sculptures. She plodded past them staring at each one dreamily, because they were exsactly like she imagined they would be. At last she reached the huge metal doorway to the mansion. It was largely detailed in curly patterns, and a handle and rusted knocker to match. She nervously pushed it open, anxious to find what and who awaited her inside.

-end chapter/ to be continued-


	4. The Meeting

A loud creak filled her ears as she struggled with the large entrance. The hinges were just as rusted and the gate, and the door itself. When she finally got it open, with much difficulty, I might add, she was amazed with the drastic contrast between the courtyard garden and the inside of this huge room that lay before her. The cieling was so high it was hard to see, for there was no electrical light in the place. The room was very dusty and had a midevil twist to it, it seemed old, and very musty and damp. Housework was obviously neglected and a good dusting was needed badly. There seemed to be no furniture, except for metal shelving far at the back of the room. Then Ardeth noticed the tall, rickety staircase to her left. On either side of the railings, tall stone statues of winged demons stood, looking menacingly real.

Ardeth began to climb the tired, winding steps, each one cracked with age, and seemingly dangerous. She touched the railing and her hand recoiled when she found that the ripe wood of it was moist. "There must be a leak in here" she whispered as she wiped her fingers on her pants. When she almost reached the top, the case began to sway slightly. Ardeth carefully jumped the last two steps to acheive the top, concrete climax of the stairs. She stepped through the tall space in the aged wall and continued into the hallway. She turned the corner and found another flight of stairs, this one thankfully much shorter than the last. Ardeth ascended these to reach the final floor of the building.

It looked like a largely exaggerated attic. The eave-boards were on a slant, and had a capascious hole in them, almost at the center, and the rain poured through them in buckets, covering the floor with a silvery coat of water. The entire room smelt of mold and wet mothballs. Ardeth began to advance into the space, listening to the pitter-patter of raindrops as she continued to observe the few details she could see. She then took heed of the fireplace to her left, and as she drew closer, she noticed a single cot there, tucked into the place between the bricked sides. Behind the bed, an extravagant collection of newspaper, magazine and book cuttings were plastered to the wall. She studied them, some were of ads for "healthier, fit bodies", some were of miracles the you saw on Maury like "boy loses eyes, but reads with his hands".

Suddenly, she heard a soft clicking-snipping sound behind her, from the far, shadowed angle of the room. Ardeth quickly curved around to see what it was. She moved closer, for she had an inkling, a feeling of where that clamor was coming from.

"Hello?" she said, hardly above a whisper, "Who's there?"

The snipping stopped.

"Hello?" Ardeth said again, as she came closer, avoiding the hole in the ceiling and the rain.

A figure stood up. Ardeth ceased walking. The form moved towards her, slowly, until the shadows fell away.

He was exactly like she thought he would look: his eyes were a glossy black, but shy, his face was an extremely pale pearl colour, and thin scars dotted his cheeks and chin. His lips were oddly blue, like ice or forget-me-nots. His hair was a dark charcoal, matted and untamed, rippling over his ears and forhead. His entire body was covered in black leather, held together with clasps and hooks and pins. Ardeth looked down at his hands. He held them away from his sides as they were sharp as razors, and seemed as they could cut anything with ease.

"Hello." he said softly, in an lonely, child-like voice.

Ardeth found a ping of sadness had found itself into the back of her brain. She fought it away. "Hi," she greeted him warmly, "what's your name?" Ardeth felt stupid for asking, for she already knew.

"Edward." he said, shuffling further out of the shadows, "My name's Edward."

-end chapter-

A/N: sorry for the chapters becoming shorter, but i seem to have less time on my hands.


	5. Conversation

A/N: I've decided to write this chapter in the viewpoint of Edward. Enjoy!

He looked curiously at the stranger that stood in front of him. Edward wondered why this sopping wet teen-ager had climbed the old hill to his castle in the rain, and at night. _She should have known better than to go out in the rain_, he thought, _she could have caught cold! _The girl sneezed softly. He twitched his scissors nervously as he watched her eyes wander around the structure of the cieling, to the window at the end of the room, and then back to him.

"So," she said with a friendly smile, "you're probably wondering why I'm here, right"

He nodded his head politely, not to be rude to his unexpected guest.

"Well, I don't want to get into particulars..." she scratched the back of her head, looking a bit embarassed, "so I'll just say that I came up here to prove that...that you exsisted."

Edward tilted his head to the side, confused. _Why would any one think that I wasn't real? _

"What I mean is that, people down there think that you're just a character in a silly bedtime story made by an old lady to scare children." She continued. "Almost two generations hane passed since you came back up here."

"Oh..." Edward said, slightly offended, "so they think...that I'm dead." He sadly flicked his scissors once more and looked at the floor.

"Sort of..." the girl started, "and at the same time, not really."

"You see, the only reason that story was made up was to frighten the children of the next generation into not coming up here to disturb you."

Edward began to understand what she was trying to explain. He started moving towards his cot in the fireplace. He looked up; the rain had stopped, and the sky had begun to clear, but the floor was still drenched.

She dropped her pack that she had on her back all that time. She then took off her coat, folded it, and placed it on the floor as a cushion so she wouldn't get wet. Edward sat down as well. He observed her silently as she studied the hole in the ceiling with disdain.

"Who built this place...do you know?" she asked suddenly.

"I think..." Edward paused, gathering his thoughts, "my father built it...before i was born."

"Is he..." she stopped. She knew that this question hurt Edward.

He looked at the puddle on the floor between his feet. Edward's watery reflection stared back. "Yes."

A long silence streched between them. The silence was akward. Edward listened to the last droplets of rain fall from the loose pieces of wood down to the puddles on the floor. __

...drip...drip...drip...

They both sat there for a long time, listening to the sounds of the dying night. Edward and his visitor, in that wet, moldy room.

"Well..." she said suddenly, trying to spark conversation again.

"Well."

_...drip...drip...drip... _

She stood up, paced through the puddles a few times, and looked at Edward.

"So," she said, trying to brighten his mood, "are there any other rooms in this house?"

-end chapter-

A/N: I thought I almost lost this chapter (dang compy), but really, I don't think its very well done. What do you think? R/R


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